As Russian President Vladimir Putin geared up for a high-stakes meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage to discuss a potential Ukraine peace deal, he quietly finalized a military agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. The deal, struck hours before the summit, involves deploying an additional 6,000 North Korean troops to support Russia’s ongoing offensive in Ukraine, alongside 100 tanks and a significant number of armored personnel carriers.
Ukrainian intelligence reports that approximately 40% of the ammunition used by Russian and North Korean forces against Ukrainian troops originates from Pyongyang. This new agreement builds on the 14,000 North Korean soldiers already engaged in intense combat operations on the Ukrainian frontlines.
Compounding Russia’s challenges, a Russian SU-30M fighter bomber, valued at £50 million, crashed into the Black Sea near Ukraine’s Snake Island, a strategic location recaptured by Kyiv’s special forces after Russia’s 2022 invasion. Search and rescue teams located the wreckage, but the pilots remain missing, and it’s unclear whether the crash resulted from enemy action or sabotage.
In a separate incident, a massive explosion rocked the Elastik weapons plant in Ryazan, Russia, killing five workers, injuring 20, and forcing the evacuation of over 100 others. The blast occurred in the gunpowder workshop, with witnesses reporting missiles scattering from the facility. Emergency services are responding, and victims are being treated at a local hospital. This follows a recent Ukrainian special forces operation that destroyed one Russian bomber and damaged three others inside Russia.
On the battlefield, Russian forces have breached Ukrainian defenses near Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub in Donetsk, advancing six miles through a gap east of Dobropillia. However, Ukrainian forces are countering with flanking maneuvers, inflicting heavy Russian casualties. Analysts suggest Russia’s territorial gains are tactically limited, and Putin may be exaggerating Ukraine’s setbacks to strengthen his position at the Anchorage summit.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has indicated that Putin is pushing for Ukraine to cede the remaining 30% of Donetsk it controls as part of any ceasefire agreement. With Trump unlikely to secure firm peace commitments from Putin in this initial meeting, further talks involving Zelenskyy and possibly European leaders, such as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, are anticipated.
